About FoodMayhem

In the chaotic kitchen of a recipe developer, you get a food blog called FoodMayhem.

I'm Jessica, an Asian-American, born and raised in NYC, and that's Lon, my Jewish, white husband. While professionally trained as a French culinary- and pastry chef, many of FoodMayhem recipes are my attempt to preserve and share authentic Chinese and Taiwanese recipes learned from my mom. We don't eat Chinese food every day, so you'll get a little bit of anything we find delicious enough to share: from our Eastern European side; recipes and techniques learned from my restaurant days; restaurant reviews, food travel tips; and a few other juicy bits along the way. Welcome to FoodMayhem!

Articles posted in ‘Closed’

Monday, March 31, 2008

*Update 2/5/09 – Now Closed*
We thought we’d check out Totally Baked Totally Baked on opening day. The well designed space was filled with people on a rainy day, so good job to the publicist. They seem to be working out some logistical kinks as the wait was quite long, and Melinda’s (Lon’s co-worker) order got […]

Saturday, March 29, 2008

*Update 2/5/09 – Now Closed*
Lon and I were walking to Paper Presentation and saw a new food spot opening up. It looks like we’ll have a baked potato bar in our neighborhood, starting this Monday. We snagged a menu from Totally Baked Totally Baked so we could plan our method of attack.
We won’t be getting […]

Friday, January 25, 2008

Aja Aja has opened a new restaurant in the West Village and since I ended up waiting for Lon at his office, way longer than expected, we decided to order dinner. We vaguely remembered enjoying a dinner we had at their original location Aja Asian Bistro and Loungeso it seemed like a good pick.
We […]

posted by jessica at 08:01 PM Comments Off on Aja – Grand OpeningComments Off on Aja – Grand Opening

Friday, December 21, 2007

***CLOSED***
I’ve given Maurizio glowing reviews in the past, but I just went again recently and I was a bit disappointed. The food wasn’t bad but I just wasn’t as impressed this time. My entree of jumbo shrimp were regular sized shrimp. With only four pieces of shrimp, it looked more like an appetizer on […]

posted by jessica at 02:20 PM Comments Off on Maurizio UpdateComments Off on Maurizio Update

Sunday, September 9, 2007

We started the night at Dusk Lounge, Dusk Loungewhich was a good place to catch up with a friend from out of town. It was quiet enough to talk AND HEAR and you could easily grab seats. The bartender was friendly and it was just a no pressure environment with some interesting quirks. They have […]

posted by jessica at 08:45 AM Comments Off on Dusk Lounge to Midnight Pizza BarComments Off on Dusk Lounge to Midnight Pizza Bar

Thursday, August 30, 2007

***CLOSED***
With a name like, It’s a Dominican ThingIt’s a Dominican Thing, you really expect the restaurant to represent authentic Dominican food. Since I’m not Dominican, I can’t make any claims that I’m sure of what Dominican food should taste like but I sure hope tonight’s dinner is not. I’ve had Dominican food before and enjoyed […]

posted by jessica at 08:31 PM Comments Off on It’s a Dominican Thing?Comments Off on It’s a Dominican Thing?

Saturday, August 25, 2007

***CLOSED***
With a party of 14, I always get nervous. Even restaurants that are usually pretty good start to falter when they have to plate for 8 or more at a time. We’ve been to Maurizio Trattoria Maurizio Trattoriabefore and praised there food so we were hoping they could hold up under the pressure. I watched […]

Friday, August 10, 2007

***CLOSED***
I had lunch with my friend Jill, founder and owner of The Dish’s Dishes, a cool twist on private cheffing. The 2 foodies met at Borough Food & Drink Borough Food & Drinkfor what seemed like a cool concept. They collect all the best stuff from the different boroughs and create a menu around it. […]

Sunday, May 20, 2007

UPDATE (1/29/08): WILD SALMON is now closed.
My parents wanted to take me out to dinner for my birthday so I chose Jeffrey Chodorow’s new place Wild Salmon. It took over the location of English is Italian and looks pretty much the same only they’ve added copper-colored fish, dangling from the ceiling.
We asked for some bread […]

posted by jessica at 10:14 PM Comments Off on Wild Salmon Ain’t No Farm Raised FishComments Off on Wild Salmon Ain’t No Farm Raised Fish

Sunday, April 22, 2007

***CLOSED***
Have you ever had a perfect dining experience? As food connoisseurs we live for stellar service, delectable dishes, and architectural astonishment and as bloggers for alliteration obviously. At Chanto, an upscale Japanese restaurant in the West Village, we found what we were looking for. A friend, whose taste in Japanese food is more […]

posted by Lon at 10:36 PM Comments Off on ChantoComments Off on Chanto